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Hi Gella, I posted my question sincerely hoping to find support from members on this board. It's been a while since I visited here and am struggling with lots of expenses right now. This was not meant to be amusing and it is for one person. I wonder now if deleting a post is an option.

I see you are in Mass, Cypress- we are in Michigan. If you have access to a car, you might find abandoned apple trees right now--we do this and have freezer full of free apples. I am making applesauce today which I eat with cottage cheese, and also apple butter.
Another thing I see here is that gas stations have food bags out for deer feeding--last year we bought a huge bag of carrots for 5 dollars--they were beautiful and we cooked and ate them and froze them, too, and they lasted all winter.

Oh, we buy turkey bacon a lot--use it to make quiche lorraine, which you could do with the cheese and eggs, and you could take leftovers to work very easily.

I sometimes find that i have stuff in my pantry that I have not used so then the goal is not to buy much but to eat the pantry down. It saves both $ and waste. I also like breakfast for dinner. We have 3 fruit trees and in years with a good crop we always give away a ton. We know other people that do the same.

Hi Gella, I posted my question sincerely hoping to find support from members on this board. It's been a while since I visited here and am struggling with lots of expenses right now. This was not meant to be amusing and it is for one person. I wonder now if deleting a post is an option.

Lots of us want to support you. Please leave your post. Could you share what staples you still have in your pantry/freezer? It's October. Check your local freecycle and Craig's List for available free produce from overflowing gardens such as mine!

You say cereal. I for one do not like oatmeal. I do however use oats to make my own granola. If you have some brown sugar and vanilla here's my recipe: Easily cuts in half.

Mix 1c br sugar and 1/2 c water in 1 quart bowl. Microwave 5 minutes. Stir in 2tsp vanilla. Then 1 tsp salt. Pour over 8c regular oats. mix well. Add nuts if you have them. I'll use sliced almonds. Bake 275 for 1 hour. Then I pour in a big bowl and mix in raisins or dried cranberries if I have them.

You can eat this w/milk.

$30: my prices

$1.67 Oats 18 ounce

$1.00 1dozen eggs

$1.00 loaf of white bread, or spend more for some whole grain. Or do you have stapled to make yourself a loaf? (2cwhite, 2c whole wheat, 1tsp salt, 2 tsp yeast and 1.5c water is a fantastic loaf of french bread).

Eggs: 1 hardboiled sliced on a slice of toast for breakfast.
2 eggs scrambled with piece of toast

Mix 3 hardboiled eggs with a can of tuna fish for enough filling for 3 sandwiches.

You still have 6 eggs left. Do the scrambles 2 more times. Use the remaining 2 to make yourself a pan of muffins. I'm going to presume your pantry has the flour, bkg soda etc needed to make a pan of muffins? Then add any dried fruit or nuts you have to add some more filler to them.

You still have $14 left. Buy yourself the fresh fruit and produce you need to make yourself happy this week!

TWG Muffins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix together;

2 cups flour (I use whole wheat)
1/4 cup sugar (you can use as little as 2 tablespoons)
1/3 cup dry milk
1 cup dry oatmeal (that's an addition in the original recipe, but I always use it to improve the nutrition)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Add:

1/4 cup of oil (you can use less)
1 egg
1 cup water (the recipe calls for this, but I find I usually have to use a little more)
I sometimes leave out the sugar and the water, and instead get a can of fruit (strawberries are good) from the 99 cents store) in light syrup. Then I adjust the moisture as needed. Experiment with what you like. Applesauce is good.

Mix it up so that you have a good thick batter. I like nuts and berries, so I add:
About 1 to 1-1/2 cups of frozen berries
1/2 cup small walnut pieces
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (yeah, those aren't necessary. I just like dark chocolate.)

I triple-spray a 12-cup muffin pan with canola oil (or just rub on with a paper towel.) I do this even if the pan is non-stick. And I fill up the muffin cups all the way to the top, rather than the 1/2 or 2/3 that the cookbooks recommend. This makes a nice tall muffin. Make them smaller if you're on a diet or want to be more frugal with your portions or have small children.

Bake in 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, give or take 5 minutes depending on how big your muffins are, what ingredients you used, altitude, etc. Poke a toothpick in the middle of one. They're done when it comes out clean.

Cypress: This is a great thread and I hope you won't delete it! From what I have seen of Geila's posts, I am fully convinced that she did not intend any offense. This is just a guess, but I suspect the folks on the west coast have more regular access to inexpensive produce than we do. It is so hard to read/convey tone in online communications. I always assume good intent unless I have no choice but to believe otherwise!

Hi Gella, I posted my question sincerely hoping to find support from members on this board. It's been a while since I visited here and am struggling with lots of expenses right now. This was not meant to be amusing and it is for one person. I wonder now if deleting a post is an option.

I didn't find it amusing. And I certainly wasn't trying to be offensive. I genuinely thought maybe I was missing something. I really don't understand why my post upset you.

I sometimes buy a cooked chicken (broasted or roasted) and get MANY meals from just the one chicken. Take the meat off the bone and freeze in individual packets to make chicken soup, tostadas, fajitas, topping for pizza ++++